The responsible conduct of research received virtually no attention
as a formal discipline until 30 years ago when federal regulatory agencies,
legislators, and the public were first faced with a series of high-profile
cases of alleged research misconduct. The prevention of such misconduct became
a primary objective for numerous conferences, grant programs, research projects,
books, and reports. With so much activity preceding this new report from the
Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, it is fair to ask
whether it adds anything to what we already have. Although it provides few
new answers, this book raises many important questions, and much of its information
and resources will be useful to those new to the field of responsible conduct
of research education.